What does a new Hawaiian Airlines pilot earn?

The Alaska Air Group careers site lists a first-year pay rate of $90.00 per contract at Hawaiian, with a monthly pay guarantee of 75 hours and reserve guarantees of 75 hours for both long call and short call. The rate is given per contract, while the guarantees are given in hours. The same page lists a first-year first officer rate of $129.71 per contract at Alaska Airlines, with a 70-hour monthly guarantee. No pay figures for captains or senior first officers are published there.1

What is in the 2023 pilot contract?

Hawaiian pilots represented by ALPA ratified a four-year contract in February 2023 that provides significant compensation increases for the airline's more than 1,000 pilots; its term extends through March 2, 2027. Hawaiian's annual report for 2023 says it includes a signing bonus, pay scale increases across all fleet types, improved health benefits and enhancements to postretirement and disability plans. The airline recorded about $17.7 million for the signing bonus and a vacation liability true-up in the first quarter of 2023.23

What retirement plans do Hawaiian pilots have?

Hawaiian sponsors a defined benefit pension plan for eligible pilots that is closed to new entrants and frozen for future benefit accruals, and a separate defined contribution plan for its pilots.3

What does the Alaska merger mean for pilots?

Alaska and Hawaiian obtained a single operating certificate from the FAA on October 29, 2025. At the end of 2025, ALPA represented 1,242 Hawaiian pilots under a contract amendable on March 2, 2027, and Alaska has begun negotiating joint collective bargaining agreements covering represented Alaska and Hawaiian workgroups, which Alaska Air Group expects to achieve over the next few years.4

Where are Hawaiian pilots based and what is required?

Pilots joining the Hawaiian seniority list can be based in Seattle, Honolulu or Cincinnati. The careers site asks for 1,500 documented flight hours including 500 turbine hours, an FAA ATP certificate with an airplane multiengine land rating, a first class medical, authorisation to work in the US and a minimum age of 23.1

How does this compare with US pilots generally?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US airline pilots, copilots and flight engineers had a median annual wage of $232,140 in May 2025.5